We have been busily working on the ePlaya and finally have some news to report about its return!

- We have upgraded the board to the latest version to close some [more] security holes and are now aggresively following the bugs list to keep abreast of any further developments.

- We installed a Mod called "Contact List" which allows you to do three new things: First you can create a Buddy List, which will notify you (if you want) when your buddies loginto the board. Second, you can transparently ignore a user and their posts. Third, you can make it so that another user cannot view your contact information. There will be extensive details about this to come.

- The ePlaya will open up another of its fora on Monday, March 14th at approximately 3:00 PST. In order to discuss the current and other proposed changes to the ePlaya environment, we'll create several discussions in ePlaya Feedback to get your input and ideas about the following topics:

* The structure of the forums and how best to lay out the categories/threads. We'll have some proposed changes to this structure for you to explore and to share your feedback and thoughts.

* The newly installed Contact List feature.

* Moderation: which forums might benefit from moderation by members of the community?

* Future mechanisms for emphasizing especially useful discussions by making them "sticky".

* Development of the LowFat Skin (formerly Lite Skin).

* One general discussion thread for users to reconnect after this down time and stay in touch throughout the next wave of changes and the rollout of further areas.

We'll participate with you in these discussions for about a week, and keep you informed on the progress of these changes there. We'd like to think of this as a "new dawn" for the ePlaya, and we hope you'll participate with us in creating it and rolling it back out.

- When we reopen the ePlaya, all accounts will be reinstated, and we will be examining more tools like Contact List, to allow the community to be more self-regulating. We hope that these changes will reduce or eliminate the need for our Admins to ban users for future disruptive or contentious behaviors. We'd like the user to be more empowered to create his or her own experience on the ePlaya, and to take a role in the "ownership" of the space we share here.

Thank you for participating, and for your patience with the process. We look forward to returning the ePlaya to its users, providing a space for connection and collaboration among members of the Burning Man community!